How to be Successful from Day One

Many people work their entire lives without ever achieving any serious success, and you’re going to have to be prepared for a LOT of hard work if you want to succeed. Hard work alone isn’t going to make you a successful person. However, if you want any chance of being successful from day one you’ll need to form important habits now:

Habit #1: Keep a job journal

Write down what you accomplished every day, and it will help you to improve your daily performance. As you accomplish more and more, you’ll have more to show for your efforts, and it will be motivation to do even more. You can use your journal to help you determine where most of your effort is spent, and you can prioritize your daily tasks. Use the entries in your journal to prepare a stunning portfolio, and use that to market yourself.

Habit #2: Learn to plan

It’s very important to know exactly what you want to accomplish every day. Successful people don’t just approach their day willy-nilly, they make a list of everything they want to get done and make sure to do it. If you want to become successful immediately, start planning your days. Make sure to give yourself wiggle room, but fill your time with only the most important things. You’ll find that it’s much less stressful to simply follow your plan, and you will never wonder if you’re doing what matters most.

Habit #3: Prioritize and discard

How many of your daily tasks NEED to be done--either by you, or at all? Think about everything you need to do tomorrow. How many of the things are of vital importance to your work? Do those things first thing in the morning. How many of the things are necessary to keep things running. Do those things next. How many of the tasks are less than important? End the day with those. Any tasks that don’t fit into those three categories either need to be handed to someone else, or discarded. Only do what really matters!

Habit #4: Have a positive mental attitude

Success doesn’t come without A LOT of hard work, and it can be exhausting to be busting your butt every day to work hard. Without the right mental attitude, you’re going to wear out quickly. Get your mind working with your body, and keep it focused on the positive. Even if you’re doing the books or entering data, you’re doing it for the purpose of accomplishing something great. Keep that "something great" in mind, and use that to help you push yourself harder and to do more.

Habit #5: Build a team

To be successful from Day One, you need to realize you can only do so much. You may be an expert in your field, but this project/company/product requires more than just one area of expertise. Bring in qualified, passionate people to work alongside you, and have them take up the slack in areas where you fall short. It will be the best way to ensure that you do what needs to be done as effectively as possible.

With the right mental attitude, a hard-working team to have your back, a prioritized daily plan, and a journal to keep track of what you’re doing, you stand a very real chance of succeeding! Good Luck!